“Hey, that is the absolute truth!” he exclaimed jokingly before continuing, “But I own the company.”
“This is incredible,” Katherine gasped, as she entered the foyer, which was more marble than anything else. It was his favorite feature in the home, and he liked that Katherine found it as impressive as he did.
“Thank you. Come on, I’ll give you some dry clothes and then make us some tea so we can warm up,” he suggested, leading her through the house.
“I want a tour,” she pouted with her arms cros
sed.
“I promise you a tour once I get you out of those wet clothes. I don’t want you to get sick,” Ben reasoned.
“You’re trying to get me out my clothes?” Katherine quipped, unable to let the opportunity for a joke pass.
“If you only knew!” Ben shot back and they both laughed a little more. It was so much fun being around her, and Ben was ecstatic that she had suggested they go back to his house.
Imagining her reaction, he looked at his home through her eyes as they made their way through the living room and passed the kitchen. Her head swiveled from one direction to the next as she tried to take in every detail, and he wondered what she thought of the place.
Ben’s bedroom was mostly gray and black, with accent touches of white. It was very bachelor-esque, but romantic. At least that’s how he liked to think of it. Katherine stopped when they reached the bed, staring up at the twenty-foot ceilings as Ben made his way into his walk-in closet.
She needed a new set of clothes, so he selected a black t-shirt from a drawer before grabbing a pair of gray sweatpants and returning to the bedroom. She was still looking up to the ceiling when he entered the room.
“I brought you a change of clothes,” Ben announced, as he entered the room.
Katherine stood in the middle of the floor, her clothes hanging from her body as she bit her bottom lip seductively. It was too intense for Ben, and he had to look away to stop himself from making a move on her.
Katherine had already told him she wanted to take it slow and he wanted to respect her wishes despite his desires. She was overflowing with sex appeal, and he had to get away before he said or did the wrong thing, misreading her nervousness for an invitation.
She was open with him about her past relationship, and how she had just begun to heal. It was the reason she had pushed him away in the first place, and he didn’t want to do anything to make her revert back to the sheltered place she met him.
No, Ben was prepared to be on his best behavior, so he placed the clothes in her hand and left the room without another word. He was too afraid of what he would say looking into her eyes.
“I’ll make the tea,” he called over her shoulder, leaving her to dress in privacy.
Once alone in the kitchen, he talked himself down, recalling how Katherine wanted to take things slow. He did not want to ruin whatever it was they were building, so he put on the tea kettle and willed himself to calm down.
He had just placed one tea bag in each mug before filling it with steaming hot water when he saw movement from the left side of the room. Glancing up, Ben noticed Katherine from across the room, standing there shyly in only the black t-shirt he had given her.
Without the pants, her legs looked to be three feet long, endless soft skin flaunted in his direction. She walked towards him, and he could feel himself harden with every step she took. Her hair bounced along with her breasts, as she walked on tippy toes until she was directly in front of him.
“God, you’re sexy,” the words fell clumsily from his lips as he looked down his nose at her.
“Thank you,” she accepted the compliment with nerves, adjusting her weight from one foot to the next as she reached for her cup of tea.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” he asked, reaching for the hem of the shirt. His fingertips grazed along the skin of her thigh, but Katherine didn’t budge, instead she leaned into his touch.
“I’m trying to get the tour I was promised,” she answered sassily, poking her hip out.
“Then a tour it is. Grab your tea,” he instructed, nodding towards the steaming mug.
Using both hands to hold their mugs, Ben led Katherine through his house, beginning in the common area. “You’ve seen the kitchen. And here is the great room.”
Like most of the house, the kitchen and living area had a dark vibe with charcoal marble strategically placed to reflect natural light in the day time and dim light in the evening. It was straight out of an architectural digest magazine, as he had actually discovered his interior designer while flipping through a magazine one day.
“Do you cook a lot?” she asked, looking at his kitchen.
“No, but sometimes I have a chef come in,” he admitted, a detail he usually lied about.
Ben still struggled with how wealthy he was, and the type of lifestyle that came along with it. He never wanted to come across as too lazy to cook, or learn to cook well, but he was relieved when Katherine didn’t appear to judge him.